Sometimes the edge of a garden needn’t be defined

Woods surround Marjorie’s garden and, to her credit, it is not always clear where the cultivated garden ends and the woods begin. Along the back edge of the garden, a bird-planted pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica) grows on the line between garden and woods.

In the beginning, Marjorie pruned away competing branches of nearby spruce and oak, giving the small tree room to grow. After the 1998 ice storm pruned a major branch, the cherry grew tall and narrow. Now, in early May, the tree is a cloud come to earth, its branches covered in white flowers that fill the view from upstairs windows.

On the opposite side of the house, two old yellow birches (Betula alleghaniensis) grow along the edge of the woods, their upper branches shining honey-gold in the morning sunlight. In the dappled shade beneath their trunks, three red elders (Sambucus racemosa var. pubens), shrubs closely related to the common elderberry (S. canadensis), spread their knobby branches. In recent years, Marjorie has transformed these native shrubs into small multistemmed trees, defining their branching structure by removing lower branches and thinning to keep the centers open. They have become a focal point just beyond the edge of her garden. Large pendulous clusters of creamy white flowers hang from their branches in May, replaced in June by clusters of bright red berries. Nearby, near an old spruce stump under siege by a pileated woodpecker, grows a wild raisin (Viburnum cassinoides), also pruned as a small tree, bearing clusters of white flowers in spring, pink and blue berries in fall.

Merging cultivated with wild, Marjorie and I have also planted native shrubs and trees along the edge of her garden. We’ve planted maple-leaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) and hobblebush (V. alnifolium), two native understory shrubs, to brighten shady nooks in May with their white flowers. We added winterberry (Ilex verticillata) and red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) for their bright red winter berries and mountain maple (Acer spicatum) for its red stems that shine in the winter sun. This spring we are planting serviceberries (Amelanchier laevis, A. canadensis), early spring-flowering trees with summer berries that are sure to bring cedar waxwings into view, and witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana), a native shrub with bright yellow November flowers.

Marjorie is no purist – there is much in her garden that is not native. Island beds in the heart of her garden are filled with exotic perennials and shrubs that have caught her fancy over the years. Other beds are devoted to her passion for small fruits, including highbush blueberries, raspberries, grapes, elderberries. But stroll in any direction from the heart of the garden and eventually you find yourself in the woods, not sure exactly when you stepped out of the garden.

Send queries to Gardening Questions, 116 N. Main Ave., Orono 04473, or e-mail rmanley@adelphia.net. Include name, address and telephone number.